As of 2015[update], Fukuoka is Japan’s sixth largest city, having passed the population of Kobe,[1] as of July 2011[update], Fukuoka passed the population of Kyoto. Since the founding of Kyoto in 794, this marks the first time that a city west of the Kinki region has a larger population than Kyoto; in ancient times, however, the area near Fukuoka, the Chikushi region, was thought by some historians to have possibly been even more influential than the Yamato region.

Exchanges from the continent and the Northern Kyushu area date as far back as Old Stone Age,[2] it has been thought that waves of immigrants arrived in Northern Kyushu from mainland Asia.[3] Several Kofun exist.

Fukuoka was sometimes called the Port of Dazaifu (大宰府, 15 km (9 mi) southeast from Fukuoka). Dazaifu was an administrative capital in 663 A.D., but a historian proposed that a prehistoric capital was in the area.[4] Ancient texts, such as the Kojiki, Kanyen (found in Dazaifu) and archaeology confirm this was a very critical place in the founding of Japan, some scholars[5] claim that it was the first place outsiders and the Imperial Family set foot, but like many early Japan origin theories, it remains contested. Fukuoka is sometimes still referred to as Hakata, the central ward of the city.

In 923, the Hakozaki-gū in Fukuoka was transferred from Daibu-gū in Daibu (大分, 16 km (10 mi) northeast from Dazaifu) the origin of Usa Shrine and established as a branch of the Usa Shrine at Fukuoka.[6] In Ooho (大保, 15 km (9 mi) south from Dazaifu), there are remains of a big ward office with a temple, because in ancient East Asia, an emperor must have three great ministries (大宰, 大傳 and 大保). In fact, there is a record in Chinese literature that a king of Japan sent a letter in 478 to ask the Chinese emperor's approval for employing three ministries; in addition, remains of the Korokan (鴻臚館, Government Guest House) were found in Fukuoka underneath a part of the ruins of Fukuoka Castle.

Kublai Khan of the Mongol Empire turned his attention towards Japan starting in 1268, exerting a new external pressure on Japan with which it had no experience. Kublai Khan first sent an envoy to Japan to make the Shogunate acknowledge Khan's suzerainty, the Kamakura shogunate refused. Mongolia repeatedly sent envoys thereafter, each time urging the Shogunate to accept their proposal, but to no avail.

In 1274, Kublai Khan mounted an invasion of the northern part of Kyushu with a fleet of 900 ships and 33,000 troops, including troops from Goryeo on the Korean Peninsula. This initial invasion was compromised by a combination of incompetence and severe storms, after the invasion attempt of 1274, Japanese samurai built a stone barrier 20 km (12 mi) in length bordering the coast of Hakata Bay in what is now the city of Fukuoka. The wall, 2–3 metres in height and having a base width of 3 metres, was constructed between 1276 and 1277, and was excavated in the 1930s.

Kublai sent another envoy to Japan in 1279, at that time, Hōjō Tokimune of the Hōjō clan (1251–1284) was the Eighth Regent. Not only did he decline the offer, but he beheaded the five Mongolian emissaries after summoning them to Kamakura. Infuriated, Kublai organized another attack on Fukuoka Prefecture in 1281, mobilizing 140,000 soldiers and 4,000 ships. The Japanese defenders, numbering around 40,000, were no match for the Mongols and the invasion force made it as far as Dazaifu, 15 km (9 mi) south of the city of Fukuoka. However, the Japanese were again aided by severe weather, this time by a typhoon that struck a crushing blow to the Mongolian troops, thwarting the invasion.

Fukuoka was formerly the residence of the powerful daimyō of Chikuzen Province, and played an important part in the medieval history of Japan, the renowned temple of Tokugawa Ieyasu in the district was destroyed by fire during the Boshin War of 1868.

The modern city was formed on April 1, 1889, with the merger of the former cities of Hakata and Fukuoka. Historically, Hakata was the port and merchant district, and was more associated with the area's culture and remains the main commercial area today, on the other hand, the Fukuoka area was home to many samurai, and its name has been used since Kuroda Nagamasa, the first daimyō of Chikuzen Province, named it after his birthplace in Okayama Prefecture[7] and the "old Fukuoka" is the main shopping area, now called Tenjin.

When Hakata and Fukuoka decided to merge, a meeting was held to decide the name for the new city. Hakata was initially chosen, but a group of samurai crashed the meeting and forced those present to choose Fukuoka as the name for the merged city. However, Hakata is still used to refer to the Hakata area of the city and, most famously, to refer to the city's train station, Hakata Station, and dialect, Hakata-ben.

Fukuoka has a humid subtropical climate (Köppen: Cfa) and it has hot humid summers and relatively mild winters, the city also sees on average about 1,600 mm (63 in) of precipitation per year, with a stretch of more intense precipitation between the months of June and September. Along with much of the prefecture, Fukuoka City has a moderate climate with an annual average temperature of 16.3 °C (61 °F), average humidity of 70% and 1,811 annual daylight hours. Roughly 40% of the year is cloudy.

Winter temperatures rarely drop below 0 °C (32 °F) and it rarely snows, though light rain does fall on most days if not as consistently as on the Sea of Japan side of Honshu.[12] Spring is warm and sunnier, with cherry blossoms appearing in late March or early April, the rainy season (tsuyu) lasts for approximately six weeks through June and July, during which time the humidity is very high and temperatures hover between 25 °C (77 °F) and 30 °C (86 °F). Summers are humid and hot, with temperatures peaking around 37 °C (99 °F). Autumn, often considered to be Fukuoka's best season, is mild and dry, though the typhoon season runs between August and September.

Fukuoka is not as seismically active as many other parts of Japan, but does experience occasional earthquakes, the most powerful recent earthquake registered a lower 6 of maximum 7 of the Japanese intensity scale and hit at 10:53 am local time on March 20, 2005, killing one person and injuring more than 400. The epicentre of the earthquake was in the Genkai Sea along a yet-undiscovered extension of the Kego fault that runs through the centre of Fukuoka. Genkai island, a part of Nishi-ku, was the most severely damaged by the earthquake and almost all island residents were forced to evacuate. Aftershocks continued intermittently throughout the following weeks as construction crews worked to rebuild damaged buildings throughout the city. Traditional Japanese houses, particularly in the areas of Daimyo and Imaizumi, were the most heavily damaged and many were marked for demolition, along with several apartment buildings. Insurance payments for damages were estimated at approximately 15.8 billion yen.[14]

A similar quake, with an intensity of 5+, also occurred one month later on April 20, 2005.

Fukuoka's major Kego fault runs northwest to southeast, roughly parallel to Nishitetsu'sŌmuta train line, and was previously thought to be 22 km (14 mi) long. It is estimated to produce earthquakes as strong as magnitude 7 at the focus approximately once every 15,000 years. If the focus were located at a depth of 10 km (6 mi), this would translate to an earthquake of a lower-6 magnitude (similar to the March 20, 2005 earthquake) in downtown Fukuoka if it were the epicenter. The probability of an earthquake along the known length of the Kego fault occurring within 30 years was estimated at 0.4% prior to the March 20, 2005 earthquake, but this probability has been revised upwards since. Including the new extension out into the Genkai Sea, the Kego fault is now thought to be 40 km (25 mi) long.

Following reports that the city has only prepared for earthquakes up to a magnitude of 6.5, several strong aftershocks renewed fears that the quakes might cause the portion of the Kego fault that lies under the city to become active again, leading to an earthquake as big as, or bigger than, the March 20 quake.

As of July 2016[update], the city had an estimated population of 1,550,627 and a population density of 4,515.64 persons per km².[15] The total area is 340.60 square kilometres (131.51 sq mi). Fukuoka city is the Japan’s youngest major city and has Japan’s fastest growing population.

Fukuoka is the economic center of the Kyushu region, with an economy largely focused on the service sector. Fukuoka city is also the largest startup city in Japan, and is the only economic zone for startup,[17] they have various services for startups like startup visa, tax reduction, and free business consultations for startups. Fukuoka city has the number one opening business rate in Japan.[18] Large companies headquartered in the city include Iwataya and Kyushu Electric Power. Fukuoka is also the home of many small firms playing a supportive role in the logistics, IT, and high-tech manufacturing sectors. Most of the region's heavy manufacturing takes place in the nearby city of Kitakyushu, the GDP in Greater Fukuoka, Fukuoka Metropolitan Employment Area, was US$101.6 billion in 2010.[19][20]

Fukuoka was selected as one of Newsweek's 10 "Most Dynamic Cities" in its July 2006 issue,[24] it was chosen for its central Asian location, increasing tourism and trade, and a large increase in volume at its sea and airport. Fukuoka has a diverse culture and a wide range of cultural attractions.

In its July/August 2008 issue, Monocle selected Fukuoka as number 17 of the "Top 25 liveable cities",[25] it was chosen for excellent shopping, outstanding food, good transport links, good museums, "a feeling of openness in its sea air", green spaces and because it's friendly, safe, clean and close to the rest of East Asia.[26]

Fukuoka hosts more than 2 million foreign visitors annually, with the majority coming from neighboring South Korea and China, from the early 2010s Hakata became the beneficiary of significant growth in cruise ship tourism; particularly with visitors from China. After expansion and redevelopment of the Hakata Port international passenger ship terminal, the number of cruise ship port calls in 2016 is expected to exceed 400.[27]

Nearly ten thousand international students attend universities in or near the Fukuoka prefecture each year.[28] Nearly 200 international conferences are held each year in Fukuoka.[29]

Sky Dream Fukuoka, located in Fukuoka City's western ward, was one of the world's largest Ferris wheels at a height of 120 meters. It was closed on September 2009. Fukuoka Castle located adjacent to Ohori Park in Maizuru Park features the remaining stone walls and ramparts[30] left after a devastating fire during the upheaval of the Meiji Restoration, it has now been preserved along with some reconstructed prefabricate concrete towers constructed during the 1950s and 1960s, when there was a trend across Japan to rebuild damaged castles as tourist attractions. Ōhori Park is also the location of one of Fukuoka City's major art galleries. There is a newly opened Kyushu National Museum in nearby Dazaifu.

The Marine Park Uminonakamichi is located on a narrow cape on the northern side of the Bay of Hakata, the park has an amusement park, petting zoo, gardens, beaches, a hotel, and a large marine aquarium which opened in 1989.[31] For tourists from other parts of Japan, local foods such as mentaiko, Hakata ramen and motsunabe are associated with Fukuoka. Yatai (street stalls) serving ramen can be found in Tenjin and Nakasu most evenings. Fukuoka Tower is near the beach in Momochi.

Itoshima, which can be found to the west of Fukuoka city, has recently become a very popular tourist destination. There are many beaches along the coast, notably Futamigaura beach, where there is a famous Shinto shrine in the ocean, and Keya beach, which hosts the annual Sunset Live festival every September. Inland, there is the Shingon Buddhist temple called Raizan Sennyoji, where there are many Buddhist statues and stunning autumn foliage.[32]

Genko Historical Museum (元寇史料館, Museum of the Mongol Invasion) – In Higashi Koen (East Park); displays Japanese and Mongolian arms and armor from the 13th century as well as paintings on historical subjects. Open on weekends.

Hakata Machiya Folk Museum – Dedicated to displaying the traditional ways of life, speech, and culture of the Fukuoka region.

Yamakasa(山笠), held for two weeks each July,[33] is Fukuoka's oldest festival with a history of over 700 years. The festival dates back to 1241 when a priest called Shioichu Kokushi saved Hakata from a terrible plague by being carried around the city on a movable shrine and throwing water.[34][35] Teams of men (no women, except small girls, are allowed), representing different districts in the city, commemorate the priest's route by racing against the clock around a set course carrying on their shoulders floats weighing several thousand pounds. Participants all wear shimekomi (called fundoshi in other parts of Japan), which are traditional loincloths.

Each day of the two-week festival is marked by special events and practice runs, culminating in the official race that takes place the last morning before dawn. Tens of thousands line the streets to cheer on the teams, during the festival, men can be seen walking around many parts of Fukuoka in long happi coats bearing the distinctive mark of their team affiliation and traditional geta sandals. The costumes are worn with pride and are considered appropriate wear for even formal occasions, such as weddings and cocktail parties, during the festival.

Hakata Dontaku(博多どんたく) is held in Fukuoka City on May 3 and 4. Boasting over 800 years of history, Dontaku is attended by more than 2 million people, making it the festival with the highest attendance during Japan's Golden Week holidays, during the festival, stages are erected throughout downtown for traditional performances and a parade of floats is held. The full name is Hakata Dontaku Minato Matsuri.[36]

The festival was stopped for seven years during the Meiji era, since it was restarted in the 12th year of the Meiji era it has been known as Hakata Dontaku.

1.
Cities designated by government ordinance of Japan
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The city government is generally delegated the various minor administrative functions in each area, and the prefectural government retains authority over major decisions. For instance, pharmaceutical retailers and small clinics can be licensed by designated city governments, in some cities, ward offices are responsible for business licensing, construction permits and other administrative matters. The structure and the authorities of the wards are determined by municipal ordinances, the 23 special wards of Tokyo are not part of this system, as Tokyo is a prefecture, and its wards are effectively independent cities. No cities designated by government ordinance have ever lost that status, cities designated by government ordinance have been established since 1956. To become a candidate for designated city status, a city must have a greater than 500,000. An application for designation is made by a city with the approval of both the city and the prefectural assemblies, the following cities have populations greater than 500,000 but have not yet been nominated. The first form of the city system was enacted under Japan local government system in 1878 with the introduction of wards. Under that system, wards existed in every city, most cities had only one ward, but the largest cities at the time were divided into 15,4, and 2 wards, respectively. In 1898, the three cities were allowed to form city assemblies, the ward system was adopted by three more cities prior to World War II, Nagoya, Yokohama, and Kobe. Under a 1911 statute, wards were granted a corporate personality, following the war, the 1947 Local Autonomy Law grandfathered in the five subdivided cities as special cities. The system was replaced by the city system when the Local Autonomy Law was amended. Administrative divisions of Japan Urban area Japans Evolving Nested Municipal Hierarchy, The Race for Local Power in the 2000s, by A. J

2.
Yatai (food cart)
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A yatai is a small, mobile food stall in Japan typically selling ramen or other food. The name literally means shop stand, the stall is set up in the early evening on pedestrian walkways and removed late at night or in the early morning hours. Though the practice of food stands dates back to the 17th century, yatai became popular. Yatai were popular during and following World War Two, but Japanese authorities imposed regulations ahead of the 1964 Tokyo Olympics, today, they are prevalent in Fukuoka City, Fukuoka, but continue to dwindle. Yatai are typically wooden carts on wheels, equipped with kitchen appliances, handles and seating fold into the cart while it is being transported. A pushcart usually measures 3 by 2.5 meters, vendors serve a variety of foods, from traditional Japanese cuisine such as ramen, gyoza, and tempura. Beer, sake, and shōchū are usually available, carts open after sunset and close in the early morning. Yatai selling buckwheat soba date back at least to the 1600s, a reference to yatai in the modern sense is found as early as 1710. The word appears in an Edo-period sharebon, a genre of literature revolving around the pleasure quarters, Yatai are descended from food stalls established outside of Buddhist shrines from the 5th to 7th century. Historian Hiroaki Ichikawa has said the origins of contemporary yatai are in the Tokugawa period, as these dignitaries traveled, yatai provided a simple food option. Yatai saw a resurgence in the 1900s as industrialization contributed to rice shortages. Kobayashi Kurasaburo, a leftist intellectual, condemned the rise of yatai carts as a product of industrialization eradicating traditional Japanese food culture, after Japans surrender in 1945, yatai flourished as Japan rebuilt its economic infrastructure, though many operated illegally or through a black market. Yatai at the time served gyoza, Japanese dumplings, heavily seasoned with garlic and this marked an era of standardization for yatai, as corporations, seeing an economic opportunity, began selling ready-made yatai carts in the 1950s, in exchange for a portion of sales. As Japans economy boomed, many of the yatai transformed into storefronts, giving rise, particularly, to several chains, such as Harugiya Ramen in Tokyo. However, city officials grew wary of health risks posed by the food stands and, ahead of the 1964 Tokyo Olympics. In the 1970s, the yatai were often portrayed by media as romantic escapes from the pressures of the business world, scholars suggest this was the product of limited independent options for Japanese men in the time on account of a widespread salaryman system of lifetime corporate employment. The contemporary hub of culture are the Nakasu and Tenjin districts in Fukuoka City of Fukuoka Prefecture. As yatai regulations were implemented at the level across Japan

3.
Nakasu
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Nakasu is the red-light district which exists between the sandbank of the Naka River and the Hakata River in Fukuoka City, Fukuoka Prefecture, Japan. It is named after a popular, but very short-lived, entertainment quarter of Edo, the name Nakasu can be translated as the island in the middle as Nakasu is an island between two rivers. Nakasu is the largest red-light district in the western Japan area next to Osaka, the number of restaurants and stores, including adult-entertainment establishments, is approximately 3,500, and over 60,000 people visit Nakasu every night. Also, Nakasu is the home to a number of fashionable restaurants, notable features in Nakasu includes the view of neon signs from the Fukuhaku Deai Bridge, and Yatai stalls along the Naka River. Once, fans of the baseball team, Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks. The nearest subway station from Nakasu is the Nakasu-Kawabata Station of the Fukuoka City Subway, present day of Nakasu has 18 bridges in total,7 of them are built at the side of the Chūō-ku, and 11 at the side of the Hakata-ku. The redevelopment of unification with adjacent Kawabata district is also in progress, on March 29,2002, the Nakasu Special Investigators, a squad of the Fukuoka Prefectural Police, was formed and patrol to prevent crimes. A huge commercial complex, the gates was opened in 2006, Nakasu Nakasu Nakasu Tourism Association, Town of Nakasu Joint Association Homepage

4.
Fukuoka Castle
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Fukuoka Castle is a Japanese castle located in Chūō-ku, Fukuoka, Japan. It is also known as Maizuru Castle or Seki Castle, completed in the early Edo period for tozama daimyo Kuroda Nagamasa, it has been decreed a historic site by the Japanese government. The castle lies in the centre of Fukuoka, on top of Fukusaki hill, the Naka River, Naka-gawa in Japanese, acts as a natural moat on the eastern side of the castle, while the western side uses a mudflat as a natural moat. Hakata, a ward with a port, is located on the opposite side of the Naka River to the east. The castle town was established on the side, facing the sea. Much of the grounds has been converted to Maizuru Park, which houses several sports facilities, a courthouse. Heiwadai Baseball Stadium, the past home field of the Nishitetsu Lions and this is the only korokan remnant found in all of Japan. In 1600, Kuroda Nagamasa received huge rewards in the form of land in Chikuzen Province for his contributions during the Battle of Sekigahara and moved into Najima Castle to form the Fukuoka han. Yoshitaka, an expert at establishing fortifications, and Noguchi Kazunari, completed in 1607 after seven years of work, the castle is said to have contained an impressive 47 yaguras, and covered an area of 47,000 square metres. Katō Kiyomasa of the nearby Kumamoto han lauded the castle for its grandeur, the dry stone fortification designed by Noguchi was especially impressive, giving the castle the name Seki-jō. The castle and castle town were renamed Fukuoka from Fukusaki, after Fukuoka of Bizen Province, several minor repairs were made during the Edo period, and full-scale renovation was conducted during the Bakumatsu period. In 1871, the abolition of the han system forced the abandonment of the castle, many of the buildings inside the castle grounds were taken down or moved to other locations. In 1920, the Kinen Yagura was relocated to Taishō temple in Yahata Higashi-ku, the building was moved back to its original location in 1983. On August 29,1957, the castle was decreed a historic site by the Japanese government, additional gates and yaguras were also decreed historical artifacts by the prefectural government in 1952,1961,1971 and 1957. Part of the main gate was set on fire by a vandal in 2000. Reconstruction of the gate is currently under way and he established his quarters at Najima Castle together with his father, Josui. Najima Castle was located on a peninsula projecting into Hakata Bay on the north of the estuary of the Tatara River, the castle fundamentally consisted of the hon-maru, the ni-no-maru, and the san-no-maru, respectively ranging from west to east, and extending for over 900 metres. Built by Kobayakawa Takakage, an illustrious Japanese general, it was an impregnable castle, on top of that, the castle was located far from Hakata, a large business centre

5.
Hakozaki Shrine
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Hakozaki Shrine is a Shintō shrine in Fukuoka. Hakozaki Shrine was founded in 923, with the transfer of the spirit of the kami Hachiman from Daibu Hachiman Shrine in what is Honami Commandry, during the first Mongol invasion on November 19,1274, the Japanese defenders were pushed back from the several landing sites. In the ensuring skirmishes, the shrine was burned to the ground, when the shrine was reconstructed, a calligraphy Tekikoku kōfuku was put on the tower gate. The calligraphy was written by Emperor Daigo, dedicated by Emperor Daijo Kameyama to supplicated to defeat enemies who invade, the shrine is highly ranked among the many shrines in Japan. It was listed in Engishiki-jinmyōchō edited in 927, in 11th century or 12th century, the shrine was ranked as Ichinomiya of Chikuzen Province. Admiral Heihachiro Togo, famous for defeating Russia on the seas, was known to often at Hakozaki shrine. From 1871-1946, Hakozaki was officially designated a Kanpei-taisha, in the first rank of government supported shrines, other similar Hachiman shrines were Iwashimizu Hachimangū of Yawata in Kyoto Prefecture and Usa Shrine of Usa in Ōita Prefecture. Hakozaki Shrine is dedicated to the veneration of the kami Hachiman and this shrine especially venerates the memories of Emperor Ōjin, Empress Jingū and Tamayori-bime. A number of structures in the complex have been designated as important cultural asset of Japan, including the main hall, the worship hall, tower gate. The annual Tamaseseri Festival and the Hojoya Festival attract many to visit the shrine, list of Shinto shrines Japanese mythology Ugayafukiaezu Hakozaki Shrine website Fukuoka/Hakata Tourist Information website, Hakozaki Shrine, images + video

6.
Hakata Gion Yamakasa
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Hakata Gion Yamakasa is a Japanese festival celebrated from the 1st until the 15th of July in Hakata, Fukuoka. The festivities are centered on the Kushida Jinja, the festival is famous for the Kakiyama, that weigh around one ton and are carried around the city as an act of float-racing. The festival is believed to be over 770 years old and attracts up to a million each year. It was designated an Important Intangible Folk Cultural Property of Japan in 1979, the sound of the Yamakasa has also been selected by the Ministry of the Environment as one of the 100 Soundscapes of Japan. The floats, called Yamakasa, are divided into two groups, originally the Kakiyama and Kazariyama were one and the same, with the large floats being carried through the city. However the Yamakasa were split up in 1898 when the power lines in Hakata became too common for large Yamkasa to be carried through the streets. Hakata, once its own city, merged with Fukuoka in 1876, the festivities are mostly based in Hakata. Hakata was divided into seven districts by Toyotomi Hideyoshi in 1586/1587, some of these districts have changed names and exact boundaries multiple times, they still see themselves as the original seven districts. Soon after the division, carrying the Yamakasa through ones own district became a competition for speed, today, the main event, the Oiyama, is a race between the districts. The districts are Higashi-nagare, Nakasu-nagare, Nishi-nagare, Chiyo-nagare, Ebisu-nagare, Doi-nagare and Daikoku-nagare

7.
Fukuoka Tower
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Fukuoka Tower is a 234-metre tall tower located in the Momochihama area of Fukuoka, Japan. It is the tallest seaside tower in Japan, Fukuoka Tower was finished in 1989, taking a total of 14 months to build at a cost of ¥6,000,000,000. It was designed by Nikken Sekkei and it was built on reclaimed land out of Hakata Bay. Fukuoka Tower has three decks, one at 116 m, a café/lounge deck at 120 m. The tower also has a triangular cross-section which is covered with 8000 half-mirrors, because of this, it has been given the nickname Mirror Sail. The underground weight of Fukuoka Tower is 25,000 tons and its weight above ground, by contrast, is only 3,500 tons. The tower is designed to withstand magnitude 7 earthquakes and winds of a speed up to 65 m/s, the strongest recorded earthquake in the area has been magnitude 6, and the strongest winds 49 m/s. The tower is located at 2-3-26 Momochihama, Sawara-ku, Fukuoka, the intermediate floors of the tower are hollow and thus unoccupied. Only the top floors and bottom floors are designed to be occupied, the tower was a major feature in the Japanese film Godzilla vs. SpaceGodzilla, in which it was also destroyed in the climactic battle between the titular monsters. List of tallest buildings in Japan Fukuoka Tower HP Fukuoka Tower HP Kyushu. com Profile

8.
Fukuoka Prefecture
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Fukuoka Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan on Kyūshū Island. The capital is the city of Fukuoka, Fukuoka Prefecture includes the former provinces of Chikugo, Chikuzen, and Buzen. Kōra taisha, Sumiyoshi-jinja, and Hakosagi-gū are the chief Shinto shrines in the prefecture, Fukuoka Prefecture faces the sea on three sides, bordering Saga, Ōita, and Kumamoto prefectures and facing Yamaguchi Prefecture across the Kanmon Straits. Fukuoka includes the two largest cities on Kyūshū, Fukuoka and Kitakyushu, and much of Kyūshūs industry and it also includes a number of small islands near the north coast of Kyūshū. Major industries include automobiles, semiconductors, and steel, Fukuoka prefecture is where tire manufacturer Bridgestone and consumer electronics chain Best Denki were founded. According to 1 June 2013 Japanese estimates, the population in Fukuoka Prefecture reached 5,088,483 inhabitants, Fukuoka Art Museum – In Ohori Park, contains a wide selection of contemporary and other art from around the world. Fukuoka Asian Art Museum – contains art from Asia, Fukuoka City Museum – displays a broad range of items from the regions history, including a spectacular gold seal. Genko Historical Museum in Higashi Koen displays Japanese and Mongolian arms, hakata Machiya Folk Museum – Dedicated to displaying the traditional ways of life, speech, and culture of the Fukuoka region. Fukuoka Castle – a castle in Chūō-ku, Fukuoka, hakata Gion Yamakasa – Japanese festival celebrated 1–15 July. Ōhori Park – a registered Place of Scenic Beauty, HKT48 Theater – where the idol group HKT48 performs every day. LinQ – the Kyushu idol group meaning Love in Kyushu, local theater where the LinQ performs weekly on Saturday and Sunday in Tenjin Best Hall, the marathon has been held in Fukuoka since 1959 and has seen world records broken. Fukuoka Prefecture has the most designated yakuza groups among all of the prefectures, at five, the Kudo-kai, the Taishu-kai, the Fukuhaku-kai, the Dojin-kai, between 2004 and 2009, and in early 2011, Fukuoka Prefecture lead the nation in gun-related incidents. These incidents were related to the local yakuza syndicates, specifically the Kudo-kai, the Dojin-kai. Fukuoka Prefecture has had the highest frequency of youth crime among the prefectures of Japan since 2003, the most popular place for tourism is Fukuoka City, especially at the time of the Dontaku festival, and Dazaifu, although Kitakyūshū has tried to attract tourists

9.
Geographic coordinate system
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A geographic coordinate system is a coordinate system used in geography that enables every location on Earth to be specified by a set of numbers, letters or symbols. The coordinates are chosen such that one of the numbers represents a vertical position. A common choice of coordinates is latitude, longitude and elevation, to specify a location on a two-dimensional map requires a map projection. The invention of a coordinate system is generally credited to Eratosthenes of Cyrene. Ptolemy credited him with the adoption of longitude and latitude. Ptolemys 2nd-century Geography used the prime meridian but measured latitude from the equator instead. Mathematical cartography resumed in Europe following Maximus Planudes recovery of Ptolemys text a little before 1300, in 1884, the United States hosted the International Meridian Conference, attended by representatives from twenty-five nations. Twenty-two of them agreed to adopt the longitude of the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, the Dominican Republic voted against the motion, while France and Brazil abstained. France adopted Greenwich Mean Time in place of local determinations by the Paris Observatory in 1911, the latitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle between the equatorial plane and the straight line that passes through that point and through the center of the Earth. Lines joining points of the same latitude trace circles on the surface of Earth called parallels, as they are parallel to the equator, the north pole is 90° N, the south pole is 90° S. The 0° parallel of latitude is designated the equator, the plane of all geographic coordinate systems. The equator divides the globe into Northern and Southern Hemispheres, the longitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle east or west of a reference meridian to another meridian that passes through that point. All meridians are halves of great ellipses, which converge at the north and south poles, the prime meridian determines the proper Eastern and Western Hemispheres, although maps often divide these hemispheres further west in order to keep the Old World on a single side. The antipodal meridian of Greenwich is both 180°W and 180°E, the combination of these two components specifies the position of any location on the surface of Earth, without consideration of altitude or depth. The grid formed by lines of latitude and longitude is known as a graticule, the origin/zero point of this system is located in the Gulf of Guinea about 625 km south of Tema, Ghana. To completely specify a location of a feature on, in, or above Earth. Earth is not a sphere, but a shape approximating a biaxial ellipsoid. It is nearly spherical, but has an equatorial bulge making the radius at the equator about 0. 3% larger than the radius measured through the poles, the shorter axis approximately coincides with the axis of rotation

10.
Kyushu
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Kyushu is the third biggest island of Japan and most southwesterly of its four main islands. Its alternative ancient names include Kyūkoku, Chinzei, and Tsukushi-no-shima, the historical regional name Saikaidō referred to Kyushu and its surrounding islands. In the 8th century Taihō Code reforms, Dazaifu was established as an administrative term for the region. As of 2016, Kyushu has a population of 12,970,479, the island is mountainous, and Japans most active volcano, Mt Aso at 1,591 metres, is on Kyushu. There are many signs of tectonic activity, including numerous areas of hot springs. The most famous of these are in Beppu, on the east shore, the island is separated from Honshu by the Kanmon Straits. The name Kyūshū comes from the nine ancient provinces of Saikaidō situated on the island, Chikuzen, Chikugo, Hizen, Higo, Buzen, Bungo, Hyūga, Osumi, excepting Oita and Miyazaki cities, the eastern seaboard shows a general decline in population. Designated cities Fukuoka Kitakyushu Kumamoto Core cities Kagoshima Ōita Nagasaki Miyazaki Naha Kurume Parts of Kyushu have a climate, particularly Miyazaki. Major agricultural products are rice, tea, tobacco, sweet potatoes, the island is noted for various types of porcelain, including Arita, Imari, Satsuma, and Karatsu. Heavy industry is concentrated in the north around Fukuoka, Kitakyushu, Nagasaki, and Oita and includes chemicals, automobiles, semiconductors, in 2010, the graduate employment rate in the region was the lowest nationwide, at 88. 9%. Besides the volcanic area of the south, there are significant mud hot springs in the part of the island, around Beppu. These springs are the site of occurrence of certain extremophile micro-organisms, the Kanmon Bridge also connects the island with Honshu. Railways on the island are operated by the Kyushu Railway Company, and Nishitetsu Railway

11.
Prefectures of Japan
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The Prefectures of Japan consist of 47 prefectures. They form the first level of jurisdiction and administrative division of Japan and they consist of 43 prefectures proper, two urban prefectures, one circuit or territory and one metropolis. The Meiji Fuhanken sanchisei administration created the first prefectures to replace the provinces of Japan in 1868, each prefectures chief executive is a directly-elected governor. Ordinances and budgets are enacted by an assembly whose members are elected for four-year terms. Under the current Local Autonomy Law, each prefecture is subdivided into cities and districts and each district into towns, for example, Hokkaido has 14 subprefectures that act as branch offices of the prefecture. Some other prefectures also have offices that carry out prefectural administrative functions outside the capital. Tokyo, the capital of Japan, is a merged city-prefecture, the Wests use of prefecture to label these Japanese regions stems from 16th-century Portuguese explorers and traders use of prefeitura to describe the fiefdoms they encountered there. Its original sense in Portuguese, however, was closer to municipality than province and those fiefs were headed by a local warlord or family. Though the fiefs have long since been dismantled, merged, and reorganized multiple times, and been granted legislative governance and oversight, the Meiji government established the current system in July 1871 with the abolition of the Han system and establishment of the prefecture system. Although there were initially over 300 prefectures, many of them being former Han territories, this number was reduced to 72 in the part of 1871. The Local Autonomy Law of 1947 gave more power to prefectures. In 2003, then-Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi proposed that the government consolidate the current prefectures into about 10 regional states, the plan called for each region to have greater autonomy than existing prefectures. This process would reduce the number of administrative regions and cut administrative costs. As of August 2012, no reorganization has been scheduled, the central government delegates many functions to the prefectures and municipalities, but retains the overall right to control them. Although local government expenditure accounts for 70 percent of government expenditure, the central government controls local budgets, tax rates. Historically, during the Edo period, the Tokugawa shogunate established bugyō-ruled zones around the nine largest cities in Japan, and 302 township-ruled zones elsewhere. When the Meiji government began to create the system in 1868, the nine bugyō-ruled zones became fu, while the township-ruled zones. Later, in 1871, the government designated Tokyo, Osaka, and Kyoto as fu, during World War II, in 1943, Tokyo became a to, a new type of pseudo-prefecture

12.
Metropolitan area
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As social, economic and political institutions have changed, metropolitan areas have become key economic and political regions. The Greater São Paulo is a term for one of the multiple definitions the large metropolitan area located in the São Paulo state in Brazil. A metropolitan area combines an urban agglomeration with zones not necessarily urban in character and these outlying zones are sometimes known as a commuter belt, and may extend well beyond the urban zone, to other political entities. For example, El Monte, California is considered part of the Los Angeles metro area in the United States, in practice, the parameters of metropolitan areas, in both official and unofficial usage, are not consistent. Population figures given for one area can vary by millions. A polycentric metropolitan area is one not connected by continuous development or conurbation, in defining a metropolitan area, it is sufficient that a city or cities form a nucleus that other areas have a high degree of integration with. The Australian Bureau of Statistics defines statistical divisions as areas under the influence of one or more major towns or a major city. However, this definition has become obsolete with the conurbation of several statistical divisions into a larger metropolitan areas. In Brazil, metropolitan areas are called metropolitan regions, each State defines its own legislation for the creation, definition and organization of a metropolitan region. The creation of a region is not intended for any statistical purpose, although the Brazilian Institute of Geography. Their main purpose is to allow for a management of public policies of common interest to all cities involved. They dont have political, electoral or jurisdictional power whatsoever, so living in a metropolitan region do not elect representatives for them. Statistics Canada defines a metropolitan area as an area consisting of one or more adjacent municipalities situated around a major urban core. To form a CMA, the area must have a population of at least 100,000. To be included in the CMA, adjacent municipalities must have a degree of integration with the core. As of the Canada 2011 Census, there were 33 CMAs in Canada, including six with a population over one million—Toronto, Montreal, Vancouver, Ottawa, Calgary and Edmonton. In Denmark the only area is Greater Copenhagen, consisting of the Capital Region of Denmark along with the neighboring regions Region Zealand. Greater Copenhagen has an population of 1.25 million people

13.
Japan Standard Time
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Japan Standard Time or JST is the standard timezone in Japan, and is 9 hours ahead of UTC, i. e. it is UTC+09,00. There is no daylight saving time, though its introduction has been debated several times, during World War II, it was often called Tokyo Standard Time. Japan Standard Time is the same as Korean Standard Time, Indonesian Eastern Standard Time, before the Meiji era, each local region had its own timezone in which noon was when the sun was exactly at its zenith. As modern transportation methods, such as trains, were adopted, in 1886, Ordinance 51 was issued in response to this problem, which stated, Ordinance 51 - July 13,1886 The prime meridian passes through Englands Greenwich Observatory. Longitudes are calculated using the prime meridian, counting 180 degrees either east or west, positive degrees are east, negative degrees are west. On January 1,1888,135 degrees east longitude will be set as the meridian for all of Japan. According to this, the time was set 9 hours ahead of GMT. In the ordinance, the first clause mentions GMT, the second defines east longitude and west longitude, the city of Akashi in Hyōgo Prefecture is located exactly on 135 degrees east longitude and subsequently became known as Toki no machi. While Korea came under Japanese rule in 1910, Korea Standard Time of UTC+8,30 continued to be used until 1912, when it was changed to Central Standard Time. Western Standard Time, which was used in Taiwan and some parts of Okinawa, was abolished by Ordinance 529 in 1937 and replaced by Central Standard Time in those areas. Territories occupied by Japan during World War II, including Singapore and Malaya, adopted Japan Standard Time for the duration of their occupation, more recently there have been efforts to bring back DST in Japan, but so far this has not happened. The two-time-zone system was implemented in Japan between January 1896 and September 1937, From October 1937, Central Standard Time was also used in western Okinawa, the IANA time zone database contains one zone for Japan in the file zone. tab, named Asia/Tokyo. From 1948–51, Japan observed DST between May and September every year under an initiative of the U. S. -led occupation army, since then, DST has never been officially implemented nationwide in Japan. Starting in the late 1990s, a movement to reinstate DST in Japan gained some popularity, aiming at saving energy, in the early 2000s, a few local governments and commerce departments promoted unmandated hour-earlier work schedule experiments during the summer without officially resetting clocks. The Council on Economic and Fiscal Policy is expected to propose that the Japanese government begin studying DST in an attempt to combat global warming. Japanese PM Shinzo Abe made a significant effort to introduce daylight saving time, however, it is not clear that DST would conserve energy in Japan. JJY Japanese calendar UTC+09,00 Japanese clock

14.
Cinnamomum camphora
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Cinnamomum camphora is a large evergreen tree that grows up to 20–30 m tall. The leaves have a glossy, waxy appearance and smell of camphor when crushed, in spring, it produces bright green foliage with masses of small white flowers. It produces clusters of black, berry-like fruit around 1 cm in diameter and its pale bark is very rough and fissured vertically. Cinnamomum camphora is native to China south of the Yangtze River, Taiwan, southern Japan, Korea, and Vietnam, and has been introduced to many other countries. In Japan, where the tree is called kusunoki, five camphor trees are known with a circumference above 20 m, with the largest individual, Kamō no Ōkusu. Camphor laurel contains volatile compounds in all plant parts. Camphor laurel has six different chemical variants called chemotypes, which are camphor, linalool,1, 8-cineole, nerolidol, safrole, in China, field workers avoid mixing chemotypes when harvesting by their odour. The cineole fraction of camphor laurel is used in China to manufacture fake Eucalyptus oil, the chemical variants seem dependent upon the country of origin of the tree. The tree is native to China, Japan, and Taiwan and it has been introduced to the other countries where it has been found, and the chemical variants are identifiable by country. E. g. C. camphora grown in Taiwan and Japan is normally high in linalool. In India and Sri Lanka, the high camphor variety/chemotype remains dominant, C. camphora grown in Madagascar, though, is high in 1,8 cineole. The essential oil from the Madagascar trees is known as ravintsara. Camphor is a crystalline substance, obtained from the tree C. camphora. Camphor has been used for centuries as a culinary spice, a component of incense. It is also an insect repellent and a flea-killing substance, C. camphora is native to Jeju off the coast of Korea, Taiwan, southern Japan, southeast China, and Indochina, where it is also cultivated for camphor and timber production. The production and shipment of camphor, in a solid, waxy form, was an industry in Taiwan prior to. It was used medicinally and was also an important ingredient in the production of smokeless gunpowder, primitive stills were set up in the mountainous areas in which the tree is usually found. The wood was chipped, these chips were steamed in a retort, allowing the camphor to crystallize on the inside of a crystallization box and it was then scraped off and packed out to government-run factories for processing and sale

15.
Camellia
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Camellia is a genus of flowering plants in the family Theaceae. They are found in eastern and southern Asia, from the Himalayas east to Japan, there are 100–300 described species, with some controversy over the exact number. There are also around 3,000 hybrids, the genus was named by Linnaeus after the Jesuit botanist Georg Joseph Kamel, who worked in the Philippines and described a species of camellia. Of economic importance in the Indian subcontinent and Asia, leaves of C. sinensis are processed to create the popular beverage, the ornamental C. japonica, C. sasanqua and their hybrids are the source of hundreds of garden cultivars. C. oleifera produces tea seed oil, used in cooking, Camellias are evergreen shrubs or small trees up to 20 m tall. Their leaves are arranged, simple, thick, serrated. Their flowers are large and conspicuous, one to 12 cm in diameter. The colors of the flowers vary from white through pink colors to red, truly yellow flowers are only in South China. Camellia flowers throughout the genus are characterized by a bouquet of conspicuous yellow stamens. The so-called fruit of plants is a dry capsule, sometimes subdivided in up to five compartments. The various species of plants are generally well-adapted to acidic soils rich in humus. Most species of camellias also require an amount of water, either from natural rainfall or from irrigation. However, some of the more unusual camellias – typically species from karst soils in Vietnam – can grow too much water. Camellia plants usually have a growth rate. Typically they will grow about 30 cm per year until mature – though this does vary depending on their variety, Camellia plants are used as food plants by the larvae of a number of Lepidoptera species, see List of Lepidoptera that feed on Camellia. Leaves of the Japanese camellia are susceptible to the fungal parasite Mycelia sterile, Camellia sinensis, the tea plant, is of major commercial importance because tea is made from its leaves. The species C. sinensis is the product of generations of selective breeding in order to bring out qualities considered desirable for tea. However, many other camellias can be used to produce a similar beverage, for example, in some parts of Japan, tea made from C. sasanqua leaves is popular

16.
Black-headed gull
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The black-headed gull is a small gull that breeds in much of Europe and Asia, and also in coastal eastern Canada. Most of the population is migratory and winters further south, some black-headed gulls also spend the winter in northeastern North America, where it was formerly known as the common black-headed gull. As is the case with many gulls, it was placed in the genus Larus. The genus name Chroicocephalus is from Ancient Greek khroizo, to colour, the specific ridibundus is Latin for laughing, from ridere to laugh. This gull is 38–44 cm long with a 94–105 cm wingspan, in flight, the white leading edge to the wing is a good field mark. The summer adult has a head, pale grey body, black tips to the primary wing feathers. The hood is lost in winter, leaving just 2 dark spots, immature birds have a mottled pattern of brown spots over most of the body. It breeds in colonies in large reed beds or marshes, or on islands in lakes, like most gulls, it is highly gregarious in winter, both when feeding or in evening roosts. It is not a species and is rarely seen at sea far from coasts. The black-headed gull is a bold and opportunistic feeder and it eats insects, fish, seeds, worms, scraps, and carrion in towns, or invertebrates in ploughed fields with equal relish. It is a species, especially in colonies, with a familiar kree-ar call. Its scientific name means laughing gull and this species takes two years to reach maturity. First-year birds have a terminal tail band, more dark areas in the wings, and, in summer. To be found much of Europe, except Spain, Italy and Greece. It is a bird in the Carolinas, United States of America. The eggs of the black-headed gull are considered a delicacy by some in the UK and are hard boiled. In the 1990s, local Broome birder Brian Kane saw a strange species of bird while trawling the local sewer ponds, upon seeing this bird, he called one of his many bird-watcher friends to verify the species, who confirmed that it was indeed a black-headed gull. This was the first recorded sighting of the species in Australia, Black-headed gull photo gallery at VIREO Interactive range map of Larus ridibundus at IUCN Red List maps Audio recordings of Black-headed gull on Xeno-canto

17.
Kanji
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Kanji, or kanji, are the adopted logographic Chinese characters that are used in the modern Japanese writing system along with hiragana and katakana. The Japanese term kanji for the Chinese characters literally means Han characters and is using the same characters as the Chinese word hànzì. Chinese characters first came to Japan on official seals, letters, swords, coins, mirrors, the earliest known instance of such an import was the King of Na gold seal given by Emperor Guangwu of Han to a Yamato emissary in 57 AD. Chinese coins from the first century AD have been found in Yayoi-period archaeological sites, however, the Japanese of that era probably had no comprehension of the script, and would remain illiterate until the fifth century AD. The earliest Japanese documents were written by bilingual Chinese or Korean officials employed at the Yamato court. For example, the correspondence from King Bu of Wa to Emperor Shun of Liu Song in 478 has been praised for its skillful use of allusion. Later, groups of people called fuhito were organized under the monarch to read, during the reign of Empress Suiko, the Yamato court began sending full-scale diplomatic missions to China, which resulted in a large increase in Chinese literacy at the Japanese court. The Japanese language had no form at the time Chinese characters were introduced. Chinese characters also came to be used to write Japanese words, around 650 CE, a writing system called manyōgana evolved that used a number of Chinese characters for their sound, rather than for their meaning. Manyōgana written in cursive style evolved into hiragana, or onna-de, that is, ladies hand, major works of Heian-era literature by women were written in hiragana. Katakana emerged via a path, monastery students simplified manyōgana to a single constituent element. Thus the two writing systems, hiragana and katakana, referred to collectively as kana, are descended from kanji. Katakana are mostly used for representing onomatopoeia, non-Japanese loanwords, the names of plants and animals, and for emphasis on certain words. In 1946, following World War II and under the Allied Occupation of Japan and this was done with the goal of facilitating learning for children and simplifying kanji use in literature and periodicals. The number of characters in circulation was reduced, and formal lists of characters to be learned during each grade of school were established, some characters were given simplified glyphs, called shinjitai. Many variant forms of characters and obscure alternatives for common characters were officially discouraged and these are simply guidelines, so many characters outside these standards are still widely known and commonly used, these are known as hyōgaiji. The kyōiku kanji are 1,006 characters that Japanese children learn in elementary school, originally the list only contained 881 characters. This was expanded to 996 characters in 1977 and it was not until 1982 the list was expanded to its current size

18.
Romanization of Japanese
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The romanization of Japanese is the application of the Latin script to write the Japanese language. This method of writing is referred to in English as rōmaji. There are several different romanization systems, the three main ones are Hepburn romanization, Kunrei-shiki romanization, and Nihon-shiki romanization. Variants of the Hepburn system are the most widely used, Japanese is normally written in a combination of logographic characters borrowed from Chinese and syllabic scripts which also ultimately derive from Chinese characters. It is also used to transliterate Japanese terms in text written in English on topics related to Japan, such as linguistics, literature, history, and culture. Rōmaji is the most common way to input Japanese into word processors and computers, all Japanese who have attended elementary school since World War II have been taught to read and write romanized Japanese. The word rōmaji literally means Roman letters, and in Japan it is often used to refer to the Latin alphabet itself than to any specific form of romanized Japanese. The earliest Japanese romanization system was based on the Portuguese orthography and it was developed around 1548 by a Japanese Catholic named Yajiro. Jesuit priests used the system in a series of printed Catholic books so that missionaries could preach and teach their converts without learning to read Japanese orthography. The most useful of these books for the study of early modern Japanese pronunciation and early attempts at romanization was the Nippo jisho, in general, the early Portuguese system was similar to Nihon-shiki in its treatment of vowels. The latter continued to be printed and read after the suppression of Christianity in Japan, the Hepburn system included representation of some sounds that have since changed. The Nihon-shiki romanization was an outgrowth of that movement, several Japanese texts were published entirely in rōmaji during this period, but it failed to catch on. Today, the use of Nihon-shiki for writing Japanese is advocated by the Oomoto sect, during the Allied occupation of Japan, the government of the Supreme Commander for the Allied Powers made it official policy to romanize Japanese. However, that failed and a more moderate attempt at Japanese script reform followed. Hepburn romanization generally follows English phonology with Romance vowels and it is an intuitive method of showing Anglophones the pronunciation of a word in Japanese. It was standardized in the USA as American National Standard System for the Romanization of Japanese, Hepburn is the most common romanization system in use today, especially in the English-speaking world. The Revised Hepburn system of romanization uses a macron to indicate long vowels. For example, the name じゅんいちろう, is written with the kana characters ju-n-i-chi-ro-u, without the apostrophe, it would not be possible to distinguish this correct reading from the incorrect ju-ni-chi-ro-u

19.
Cities of Japan
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A city is a local administrative unit in Japan. Cities are ranked on the level as towns and villages. Like other contemporary administrative units, they are defined by the Local Autonomy Law of 1947, a city can theoretically be demoted to a town or village when it fails to meet any of these conditions, but such a demotion has not happened to date. The least populous city, Utashinai, Hokkaido, has a population of six thousand, while a town in the prefecture, Otofuke. Many municipalities gained city status under this eased standard, the Cabinet of Japan can designate cities of at least 200,000 inhabitants to have the status of special city, core city, or designated city. These statuses expand the scope of authority delegated from the prefectural government to the city government. Tokyo, Japan’s capital, existed as a city until 1943, the 23 special wards of Tokyo, which constitute the core of the Tokyo metropolitan area, each have an administrative status analogous to that of cities. Tokyo also has several other incorporated cities, towns and villages within its jurisdiction. J, jacobs at Urban Studies Research, Vol.2011, doi,10. 1155/2011/692764 Large City System of Japan, graphic shows Japanese city types at p.1

20.
Japan
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Japan is a sovereign island nation in Eastern Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies off the eastern coast of the Asia Mainland and stretches from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea, the kanji that make up Japans name mean sun origin. 日 can be read as ni and means sun while 本 can be read as hon, or pon, Japan is often referred to by the famous epithet Land of the Rising Sun in reference to its Japanese name. Japan is an archipelago consisting of about 6,852 islands. The four largest are Honshu, Hokkaido, Kyushu and Shikoku, the country is divided into 47 prefectures in eight regions. Hokkaido being the northernmost prefecture and Okinawa being the southernmost one, the population of 127 million is the worlds tenth largest. Japanese people make up 98. 5% of Japans total population, approximately 9.1 million people live in the city of Tokyo, the capital of Japan. Archaeological research indicates that Japan was inhabited as early as the Upper Paleolithic period, the first written mention of Japan is in Chinese history texts from the 1st century AD. Influence from other regions, mainly China, followed by periods of isolation, from the 12th century until 1868, Japan was ruled by successive feudal military shoguns who ruled in the name of the Emperor. Japan entered into a period of isolation in the early 17th century. The Second Sino-Japanese War of 1937 expanded into part of World War II in 1941, which came to an end in 1945 following the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Japan is a member of the UN, the OECD, the G7, the G8, the country has the worlds third-largest economy by nominal GDP and the worlds fourth-largest economy by purchasing power parity. It is also the worlds fourth-largest exporter and fourth-largest importer, although Japan has officially renounced its right to declare war, it maintains a modern military with the worlds eighth-largest military budget, used for self-defense and peacekeeping roles. Japan is a country with a very high standard of living. Its population enjoys the highest life expectancy and the third lowest infant mortality rate in the world, in ancient China, Japan was called Wo 倭. It was mentioned in the third century Chinese historical text Records of the Three Kingdoms in the section for the Wei kingdom, Wa became disliked because it has the connotation of the character 矮, meaning dwarf. The 倭 kanji has been replaced with the homophone Wa, meaning harmony, the Japanese word for Japan is 日本, which is pronounced Nippon or Nihon and literally means the origin of the sun. The earliest record of the name Nihon appears in the Chinese historical records of the Tang dynasty, at the start of the seventh century, a delegation from Japan introduced their country as Nihon

21.
Kitakyushu
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Kitakyushu is one of two designated cities in Fukuoka Prefecture, Japan, together with Fukuoka, with a population of over 1 million people. Kokura Prefecture was founded separately from Fukuoka Prefecture in 1871 when the system was abolished. The old wooden-built Kokura Prefectural Office is still standing and is being restored, in 1876, Kokura Prefecture was absorbed by Fukuoka Prefecture. The city of Kokura was founded in 1900, Yahata in Kitakyushu was the target for the beginning of the US bombing raids on the home islands on June 16,1944, when 75 Boeing B-29 Superfortresses flew out from mainland China. Kokura was the target of the nuclear weapon Fat Man on August 9,1945. Major Charles Sweeney had orders to drop the bomb visually, all three attempts failed due to clouds and smoke from Yahata, which is only 7 km west of Kokura and had air raids on the previous day, preventing him from identifying the target clearly. Additionally, a screen was created by industrial workers burning barrels of coal tar and/or electric plant workers releasing steam. The bomb was dropped on the city of Nagasaki, the secondary target. The city of Kitakyushu was founded on February 10,1963 and was designated on April 1,1963 by government ordinance, the city was born from the merger of five municipalities centered around the ancient feudal city of Kokura. The citys symbol mark is a flower with the north in the middle. Kitakyushu has seven wards, The city of Nakama, Fukuoka was to become the ward of Kitakyushu in 2005. However, the merger was rejected on December 24,2004 by Nakamas city council, as of April 1,2014, the city had an estimated population of 963,267 and a total area of 489.60 km². The average population density is thus 1,967 persons per km² and it is now the countrys 15th most populated city. It has a larger total area than that of Fukuoka which is only 340.03 km². The 1986 family movie Koneko Monogatari was filmed here, the English version of the film, which is the story of the friendship of a kitten and a pug dog, was released in America in 1989 as The Adventures of Milo and Otis. The 1958 comedy Rickshaw Man is based on a folk hero of Kokura called Muhomatsu or Wild Pine and has been called the Japanese Desperado. He is celebrated in the Kokura Gion Yamagasa festival, toshiro Mifune plays the taiko drum in this movie. There are festivals held in the summer in the city, including the Tobata Gion Yamagasa festival in Tobata-ku, kurosaki Gion It has been designated as an intangible cultural asset of Fukuoka Prefecture

22.
Keihanshin
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Keihanshin is a metropolitan region in Japan encompassing the metropolitan areas of the cities of Kyoto in Kyoto Prefecture, Osaka in Osaka Prefecture and Kobe in Hyōgo Prefecture. The entire region has a population of 19,341,976 over an area of 13,033 km2 and it is the second-most-populated urban region in Japan, containing approximately 15% of Japans population. The GDP in Osaka is $671 billion as measured by PPP as of 2014, making it one of the worlds most-productive regions, masterCard Worldwide reported that Osaka is the 19th ranking city of the worlds leading global cities and has an instrumental role in driving the global economy. If Keihanshin was a country, it would be the 16th-largest economy in the world, the Japan Statistics Bureau defines the set of municipalities that are entirely or mostly within 50 kilometres of the Municipal Office of Osaka as one measure of the metropolitan area. As of 2010, the population for this region was 16,342,641, the Urban Employment Area is a metropolitan area definition developed at the Faculty of Economics of the University of Tokyo. This definition is comparable to the Metropolitan Statistical Area concept used to describe areas in the United States. The basic building blocks are municipalities, the core area is the set of municipalities that contain a densely inhabited district with a population of 10,000 or more. The Urban Employment Area is called Metropolitan Employment Area, when its area has 50,000 DID population or more. Otherwise, the area is called Micropolitan Employment Area, a DID is a group of census enumeration districts inhabited at densities of 4,000 or more persons per km². Outlying areas are those municipalities where 10% or more of the population work in the core area or in another outlying area. Overlaps are not allowed and an area is assigned to the core area where it has the highest commuter ratio. This definition assigns a Metropolitan Employment Area to the cities of the Keihanshin region, Osaka, Kobe, Kyoto, Himeji. The lists below indicate which cities belong to which metropolitan area, towns and villages are not listed. 5% of the resident population aged 15 and above commute to school or work in a designated city. If multiple designated cities are close enough to have overlapping outlying areas, in the 2010 census, the designated cities used to define the Keihanshin MMA were Osaka, Kobe, and Kyoto. Sakai has subsequently become a designated city, as of 2010, the entire Keihanshin region had a population of 19,341,976 over an area of 13,033 square kilometres. The core cities formed Keihanshin are government ordinance cities and these cities designated the three largest cities as special cities with Tokyo in 1889. Kobe designated the six largest cities as cities in 1922. Following the World War II, the six largest cities was replaced by the government designated city system in 1956, afterwards, Sakai became a government designated city in 2006

23.
Kobe
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Kobe is the sixth-largest city in Japan and is the capital city of Hyōgo Prefecture. It is located on the side of the main island of Honshū, on the north shore of Osaka Bay. With a population around 1.5 million, the city is part of the Keihanshin metropolitan area along with Osaka, the earliest written records regarding the region come from the Nihon Shoki, which describes the founding of the Ikuta Shrine by Empress Jingū in AD201. For most of its history, the area was never a political entity, even during the Tokugawa period. Kobe did not exist in its current form until its founding in 1889 and its name comes from kanbe, an archaic title for supporters of the citys Ikuta Shrine. Kobe became one of Japans 17 designated cities in 1956, Kobe was one of the cities to open for trade with the West following the 1853 end of the policy of seclusion and has since been known as a cosmopolitan port city. While the 1995 Great Hanshin earthquake diminished much of Kobes prominence as a port city, the city is the point of origin and namesake of Kobe beef, as well as the site of one of Japans most famous hot spring resorts, Arima Onsen. Media related to History of Kobe at Wikimedia Commons Tools found in western Kobe demonstrate the area was populated at least from the Jōmon period. The natural geography of the area, particularly of Wada Cape in Hyōgo-ku, led to the development of a port, some of the earliest written documents mentioning the region include the Nihon Shoki, which describes the founding of the Ikuta Shrine by Empress Jingū in AD201. During the Nara and Heian periods, the port was known by the name Ōwada Anchorage and was one of the ports from which imperial embassies to China were dispatched. The city was briefly the capital of Japan in 1180, when Taira no Kiyomori moved his grandson Emperor Antoku to Fukuhara in present-day Hyōgo-ku, the Emperor returned to Kyoto after about five months. Shortly thereafter in 1184, the Taira fortress in Hyōgo-ku and the nearby Ikuta Shrine became the sites of the Genpei War battle of Ichi-no-Tani between the Taira and Minamoto clans, the Minamoto prevailed, pushing the Taira further. As the port grew during the Kamakura period, it became an important hub for trade with China, in the 13th century, the city came to be known by the name Hyōgo Port. During this time, Hyōgo Port, along with northern Osaka and it was not until the abolition of the han system in 1871 and the establishment of the current prefecture system that the area became politically distinct. Hyōgo Port was opened to trade by the government of the Bakufu at the same time as Osaka on January 1,1868, just before the advent of the Boshin War. The region has since been identified with the West and many residences from the period remain in Kobes Kitano area. Kobe, as it is today, was founded on April 1,1889. The history of the city is tied to that of the Ikuta Shrine, and the name Kobe derives from kamube

24.
Kyoto
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Kyoto is a city located in the central part of the island of Honshu, Japan. It has a close to 1.5 million. Kyoto is also known as the thousand-year capital, in Japanese, the city has been called Kyō, Miyako, or Kyō no Miyako. In the 11th century, the city was renamed Kyoto, after the Chinese word for capital city, after the city of Edo was renamed Tokyo in 1868, and the seat of the Emperor was transferred there, Kyoto was known for a short time as Saikyō. Obsolete spellings for the name include Kioto, Miaco and Meaco. Another term commonly used to refer to the city in the period was Keishi. His last choice for the site was the village of Uda, the new city, Heian-kyō, a scaled replica of the then Tang capital Changan, became the seat of Japans imperial court in 794, beginning the Heian period of Japanese history. The city suffered destruction in the Ōnin War of 1467–1477. Battles between samurai factions spilled into the streets, and came to involve the court nobility and religious factions as well, nobles mansions were transformed into fortresses, deep trenches dug throughout the city for defense and as firebreaks, and numerous buildings burned. The city has not seen such widespread destruction since, Hideyoshi also built earthwork walls called odoi encircling the city. Teramachi Street in central Kyoto is a Buddhist temple quarter where Hideyoshi gathered temples in the city, throughout the Edo period, the economy of the city flourished as one of three major cities in Japan, the others being Osaka and Edo. The Hamaguri rebellion of 1864 burnt down 28,000 houses in the city, the modern city of Kyoto was formed on April 1,1889. The construction of Lake Biwa Canal in 1890 is one taken to revive the city. The population of the city exceeded one million in 1932, stimson, Secretary of War in the Roosevelt and Truman administrations, the city was removed from the list of targets and replaced by Nagasaki. The city was spared from conventional bombing as well, although small-scale air raids did result in casualties. As a result, the Imperial City of Kyoto is one of the few Japanese cities that still have an abundance of prewar buildings, however, modernization is continually breaking down the traditional Kyoto in favor of newer architecture, such as the Kyōto Station complex. Kyoto became a city designated by government ordinance on September 1,1956, in 1997, Kyoto hosted the conference that resulted in the protocol on greenhouse gas emissions that bears the citys name. Kyoto is located in a valley, part of the Yamashiro Basin, in the part of the mountainous region known as the Tamba highlands

25.
Kansai region
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The Kansai region or the Kinki region lies in the southern-central region of Japans main island Honshū. The region includes the prefectures of Mie, Nara, Wakayama, Kyoto, Osaka, Hyōgo, while the use of the terms Kansai and Kinki have changed over history, in most modern contexts the use of the two terms is interchangeable. The urban region of Osaka, Kobe and Kyoto is the second most populated in Japan after the Greater Tokyo Area, the Kansai region is the cultural and historical heart of Japan with 11% of its land area and 22,757,897 residents as of 2010. In the north the region is bordered by the Sea of Japan, to the south by the Kii Peninsula and Pacific Ocean, four of Japans national parks lie within its borders, in whole or in part. The area also contains six of the seven top prefectures in terms of national treasures, other geographical features include Amanohashidate in Kyoto Prefecture and Awaji Island in Hyōgo. The Kansai region is compared with the Kantō region, which lies to its east and consists primarily of Tokyo. This East-West rivalry has deep roots, particularly from the Edo period. With a samurai population of less than 1% the culture of the merchant city of Osaka stood in sharp contrast to that of Edo, many characteristic traits of Kansai people descend from Osaka merchant culture. Catherine Maxwell, an editor for the newsletter Omusubi, writes, Kansai residents are seen as being pragmatic, entrepreneurial, down-to-earth and possessing a strong sense of humour. Kanto people on the hand are perceived as more sophisticated, reserved and formal, in keeping with Tokyo’s history and modern status as the nation’s capital. Kansai is known for its food, especially Osaka, as supported by the saying Kyotoites are ruined by overspending on clothing, popular Osakan dishes include takoyaki, okonomiyaki, kitsune udon and kushikatsu. Kyoto is considered a mecca of traditional Japanese cuisine like kaiseki, Kansai has many wagyu brands such as Kobe beef and Tajima cattle from Hyōgo, Matsusaka beef from Mie and Omi beef from Shiga. Sake is another specialty of the region, the areas of Nada-Gogō, as opposed to food from Eastern Japan, food in the Kansai area tends to be sweeter, and foods such as nattō tend to be less popular. The dialects of the people from the Kansai region, commonly called Kansai-ben, have their own variations of pronunciation, vocabulary, Kansai-ben is the group of dialects spoken in the Kansai area, but is often treated as a dialect in its own right. Kansai is one of the most prosperous areas for baseball in Japan, two Nippon Professional Baseball teams, Hanshin Tigers and Orix Buffaloes, are based in Kansai. Koshien Stadium, the stadium of the Hanshin Tigers, is also famous for the nationwide high school baseball tournaments. In association football, the Kansai Soccer League was founded in 1966, cerezo Osaka, Gamba Osaka, and Vissel Kobe belong to J. League Division 1 and Kyoto Sanga F. C. belongs to J. League Division 2, the top professional leagues in Japan. The terms Kansai, Kinki, and Kinai have a deep history

26.
Yamato Province
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Yamato Province was a province of Japan, located in Kinai, corresponding to present-day Nara Prefecture in Honshū. At first, the name was written with one different character, and for ten years after 737. The final revision was made in the year of the Tenpyō-hōji era. It is classified as a province in the Engishiki. The Yamato Period in the history of Japan refers to the late Kofun Period, around the 6th century, the local chieftainship gained national control and established the Imperial court in Yamato Province. The battleship Yamato, the flagship of the Japanese Combined Fleet during World War II, was named after this ancient province, the provincial capital was Wakigami in Katsujō District, but accompanying the Heijō-kyō capital transfer, it was moved to Takaichi District. The exact location of the capital is guessed at by various sources, there was no shugos mansion, the Kōfuku-ji played that role. In the Setsuyōshū, Toichi District is listed as the seat, the provincial temple for monks is popularly thought to have been Tōdai-ji, but it may have in fact been a different one in Kashihara. The one for nuns was Hokke-ji, the primary shrine was Sakurais Ōmiwa Shrine, but there have been no records stating as such found at the shrine itself. ISBN 978-0-674-01753-5, OCLC58053128 Media related to Yamato Province at Wikimedia Commons Murdochs map of provinces,1903

27.
Old Stone Age
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The Paleolithic is a prehistoric period of human history distinguished by the development of the most primitive stone tools and covers roughly 95% of human technological prehistory. It extends from the earliest known use of tools, probably by Homo habilis initially,2.6 million years ago. The Paleolithic era is followed by the Mesolithic, the date of the Paleolithic–Mesolithic boundary may vary by locality as much as several thousand years. During the Paleolithic period, humans grouped together in small societies such as bands, the Paleolithic is characterized by the use of knapped stone tools, although at the time humans also used wood and bone tools. Other organic commodities were adapted for use as tools, including leather and vegetable fibers, however, due to their nature, surviving artifacts of the Paleolithic era are known as paleoliths. About 50,000 years ago, there was a increase in the diversity of artifacts. For the first time in Africa, bone artifacts and the first art appear in the archaeological record, the first evidence of human fishing is also noted, from artifacts in places such as Blombos cave in South Africa. The new technology generated an explosion of modern humans which is believed to have led to the extinction of the Neanderthals. Humankind gradually evolved from members of the genus Homo—such as Homo habilis. The climate during the Paleolithic consisted of a set of glacial and interglacial periods in which the climate periodically fluctuated between warm and cool temperatures, by c. 50,000 – c. 40,000 BP, the first humans set foot in Australia. By c. 45,000 BP, humans lived at 61°N latitude in Europe, by c. 30,000 BP, Japan was reached, and by c. 27,000 BP humans were present in Siberia, above the Arctic Circle. At the end of the Upper Paleolithic, a group of humans crossed Beringia, the term Paleolithic was coined by archaeologist John Lubbock in 1865. It derives from Greek, παλαιός, palaios, old, and λίθος, lithos, stone, human evolution is the part of biological evolution concerning the emergence of anatomically modern humans as a distinct species. The Paleolithic Period coincides almost exactly with the Pleistocene epoch of geologic time and this epoch experienced important geographic and climatic changes that affected human societies. During the preceding Pliocene, continents had continued to drift from possibly as far as 250 km from their present locations to positions only 70 km from their current location. South America became linked to North America through the Isthmus of Panama, most of Central America formed during the Pliocene to connect the continents of North and South America, allowing fauna from these continents to leave their native habitats and colonize new areas. Africas collision with Asia created the Mediterranean Sea, cutting off the remnants of the Tethys Ocean, climates during the Pliocene became cooler and drier, and seasonal, similar to modern climates. The formation of an Arctic ice cap around 3 million years ago is signaled by a shift in oxygen isotope ratios and ice-rafted cobbles in the North Atlantic

28.
Kofun
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Kofun are megalithic tombs or tumuli in Japan, constructed between the early 3rd century and the early 7th century AD. The term Kofun is the origin of the name of the Kofun period, many Kofun have distinctive keyhole-shaped mounds, which are unique to ancient Japan. The kofun tumuli have assumed various shapes throughout history, the most common type of kofun is known as a zenpō-kōen-fun, which is shaped like a keyhole, having one square end and one circular end, when viewed from above. There are also circular-type, two conjoined rectangles typed, and square-type kofun, orientation of kofun is not specified. For example, in the Saki Kofun group, all of the parts are facing north. Haniwa, terracotta figures, were arrayed above and in the surroundings to delimit, Kofun range from several metres to over 400m long. The largest, which has been attributed to Emperor Nintoku, is Daisen Kofun in Sakai City, the funeral chamber was located beneath the round part and comprised a group of megaliths. In 1972, the unlooted Takamatsuzuka Tomb was found in Asuka, inside the tightly assembled rocks, white lime plasters were pasted, and colored pictures depict the Asuka Beauties of the court as well as constellations. A stone coffin was placed in the chamber, and accessories, swords, the wall paintings have been designated national treasures and the grave goods as important cultural property, while the tumulus is a special historic site. Kofun burial mounds and their remains have been all over Japan. A total of 161,560 kofun tomb sites have found as of 2001. Hyōgo Prefecture has the most of all prefectures, and Chiba Prefecture has the second most, most of the tombs of chiefs in the Yayoi period were square-shaped mounds surrounded by ditches. The most notable example in the late Yayoi period is Tatetsuki Mound Tomb in Kurashiki, the mound is about 45 meters wide and 5 meters high and has a shaft chamber. Broken pieces of Tokushu-kidai, cylindrical earthenware, were excavated around the mound, another prevalent type of Yayoi period tomb is the Yosumi tosshutsugata funkyūbo, a square mound with protruding corners. These tombs were built in the Sanin region, an area of the Sea of Japan. Unearthed articles indicate the existence of alliances between native tribes in the region, similar types of tombs have been excavated in western and northern Korea. In 1996 multiple Shūkōbo tombs were found around the Yeongsan River basin, one of the first keyhole-shaped kofun was built in the Makimuku area, the southeastern part of the Nara Basin. Hashihaka Kofun, which was built in the middle of the 3rd century AD, is 280 meters long and 30 meters high and its scale is obviously different from previous Yayoi tombs

30.
Dazaifu, Fukuoka
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Dazaifu is a city located in Fukuoka Prefecture, Japan. Nearby cities include Ōnojō and Chikushino, although mostly mountainous, it does have arable land used for paddy fields and market gardening. As of May 31,2011, the city has an population of 70,587 with 29,355 households. The total area is 29.58 km², the city was officially founded on April 1,1982, although it has been important historically for more than a thousand years. Dazaifu was the imperial office governing Kyūshū after it was moved from present-day Fukuoka City in 663, Dazaifu hosted foreign embassies from China and Korea. Kōrokan, a guesthouse for foreign embassies, was also established, the Korokan featured in contemporary literature, such as the Manyōshū, as a place of departure for ocean voyages. From the Nara period through the Heian period and until the Kamakura period, Dazaifu was one of the military, in the Heian period, Dazaifu was a place of exile for high-ranking courtiers. Nobles exiled there include Sugawara no Michizane and his grave is at Dazaifu Tenman-gū. Dazaifu was sometimes attacked by rebels, at other times the head of Dazaifu himself raised a rebellion. In 739 the powerful nobleman Fujiwara Hirotsugu was appointed to Dazaifu and he soon organised a rebellion, raising 15,000 men. After three months, the uprising was suppressed by 17,000 court troops, in 939 another nobleman, Fujiwara Sumitomo, rebelled against the court. Allying himself with pirates, in 941 he landed in Kyushu, then he defeated the troops guarding Dazaifu and burned the state buildings. Due to this and other developments, Dazaifu never regained its earlier prestige, with the invasions of the Mongols and the decline of imperial authority, Dazaifu became less politically significant. In the Muromachi period the political center of Kyūshū was moved to Hakata, in medieval times, Dazaifu was the base of the Shōni clan. The Shōni were later expelled by the Ōuchi clan, in the Edo period, Dazaifu was a part of the Kuroda han until its abolition in 1873. The Kyushu National Museum opened on October 16,2005, a wood and glass building in a hilly landscape, it hosts collections of Japanese artifacts related to the history of Kyūshū. Kōmyōzen-ji is a Zen temple famous for its stone garden and it was built during the Kamakura period just next to Dazaifu Tenman-gū. All three are within walking distance of Nishitetsu Dazaifu Station, another temple, Kanzeon-ji, was built in the 8th century

31.
Kojiki
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Kojiki, also known as Furukotofumi, is the oldest extant chronicle in Japan, dating from the early 8th century and composed by Ō no Yasumaro at the request of Empress Genmei. The Kojiki is a collection of myths concerning the origin of the four islands of Japan. Along with the Nihon Shoki, the contained in the Kojiki are part of the inspiration behind many practices. Later, the myths were re-appropriated for Shinto practices including the misogi purification ritual, while the historical records and myths are written in a form of Chinese with a heavy mixture of Japanese elements, the songs are written with Chinese characters that are only used to convey sounds. This special use of Chinese characters is called Manyōgana, a knowledge of which is critical to understanding these songs, the Kojiki is divided into three parts, the Kamitsumaki, the Nakatsumaki and the Shimotsumaki. The Kamitsumaki also outlines the myths concerning the foundation of Japan, the Nakatsumaki begins with the story of Emperor Jimmu, the first Emperor, and his conquest of Japan, and ends with the 15th Emperor, Emperor Ōjin. Many of the stories in this volume are mythological, and the historical information in them is highly suspect. Recent studies support the view that these emperors were invented to push Jimmus reign further back to the year 660 BC, the Shimotsumaki covers the 16th to 33rd emperors and, unlike previous volumes, has very limited references to the interactions with deities. These interactions are very prominent in the first and second volumes, information about the 24th to the 33rd emperors are largely missing, as well. In the Edo period, Motoori Norinaga studied the Kojiki intensively and he produced a 44-volume study of the Kojiki called Kojiki-den. A translation of the Ko-ji-ki or Records of ancient matters, yokohama, Japan, R. Meiklejohn and Co. Princeton University Press and Tokyo, University of Tokyo Press, the Kojiki, An Account of Ancient Matters. There are two branches of Kojiki manuscripts, Ise and Urabe. The extant Urabe branch consists of 36 existing manuscripts all based on the 1522 copies by Urabe Kanenaga, the Ise branch may be subdivided into the Shinpukuji-bon manuscript of 1371–1372 and the Dōka-bon manuscripts. While divided into the Ise branch, it is actually a mixture of the two branches, the monk Kenyu based his copy on Ōnakatomi Sadayos copy. In 1266, Sadayo copied volumes one and three, but did not have access to the second volume, finally, in 1282, he obtained access to the second volume through a Urabe-branch manuscript that he used to transcribe. Historiographical Institute of the University of Tokyo International Research Center for Japanese Studies Japanese Historical Text Initiative Historiography of Japan Bentley, the Authenticity of Sendai Kuji Hongi, A New Examination of Texts, With a Translation And Commentary. Japanese historians and the myths, 1600-1945, The Age of the Gods

32.
Hakata-ku, Fukuoka
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Hakata-ku is a ward of the city of Fukuoka in Fukuoka Prefecture, Japan. Many of Fukuoka Prefecture and Fukuoka Citys principal government, commercial, retail, Hakata-ku is also the location of Fukuokas main train station, Hakata Station, Fukuoka Airport and the Hakata Port international passenger ship terminal. Hakata-ku is a ward of Fukuoka City located on its eastern edge and it is 31.47 km2 with a population of 206,629. Much of the consists of low-lying plains beside the Mikasa River. The northwestern end of the ward faces Hakata Bay, which includes both ferry and international cruise ship terminals Hakata Harbor, the northeast end of the ward is slightly elevated, and is named Higashihirao, with nearby Fukuoka Airport. Around Hakata Station is downtown, Nakasu is the main dining, Hakata-ku also houses the Fukuoka Prefectural office. Many Japanese companies have established offices in Hakata-ku due to its ease of access to local government offices as well transportation hubs such as Hakata Station. The headquarters of JR Kyūshū, Best Denki, and many companies are in the ward. Air Next, a subsidiary of All Nippon Airways, is headquartered on the grounds of Fukuoka Airport in Hakata-ku, link Airs has its headquarters in the Fukuoka Gion Daiichi Seimei Building in Hakata-ku. Cisco has an Asia-Pacific sales office on the 12th floor of the Fukuoka Gion Daiichi Seimei Building, prior to its dissolution, Harlequin Air was headquartered on the grounds of the airport in Hakata-ku. Hakatas economy was transformed in 1996 with the opening of Canal City Hakata. From the early 2010s Hakata became the beneficiary of significant growth in cruise ship tourism, in 2014,91 cruise ships travelled from China called at Hakata. In 2015,245 cruise ship calls were made at Hakata Port, after expansion and redevelopment of the port facilities, the number of cruise ship port calls in 2016 is expected to exceed 400. As of 2015, the largest passenger vessel making regular port calls at Hakata is the Royal Caribbean International owned MS Quantum of the Seas, partly as a result of growing international tourism, in 2015 Fukuoka reported the fastest rising tax revenues and population in Japan. Hakata is one of the oldest cities in Japan, in the Middle Ages Hakata, which faces onto the Genkai-Nada Channel dividing Japan from Korea, was a base for merchants who traded with China and Korea, and the city housed Japans first Chinatown. Taira no Kiyomori is said to have built the artificial harbor Sode-no-minato to increase commerce, Hakata was burned down by many wars, including the Mongol invasions. In the early Edo period, Kuroda Nagamasa, appointed the lord of Chikuzen Province, Kuroda Nagamasa changed the name of the area to Fukuoka after his home town, Fukuoka in Okayama Prefecture. He ordered Tachibana Castle and Najima Castle dismantled, and had Fukuoka Castle built using the stones from older castles

33.
Mongol invasions of Japan
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The Mongol invasions of Japan, which took place in 1274 and 1281, were major military efforts undertaken by Kublai Khan to conquer the Japanese archipelago after the submission of Goryeo to vassaldom. Ultimately a failure, the attempts are of macro-historical importance because they set a limit on Mongol expansion. The Mongol invasions are considered a precursor to modern warfare. One of the most notable innovations during the war was the use of explosive. After a series of Mongol invasions of Korea between 1231 and 1281, Goryeo signed a treaty in favor of the Mongols and became a vassal state, Kublai was declared Khagan of the Mongol Empire in 1260 and established his capital at Khanbaliq in 1264. The Mongols also made attempts to subjugate the peoples of Sakhalin—the Ainu, Orok. In 1266, Kublai Khan dispatched emissaries to Japan with a saying, Cherished by the Mandate of Heaven. The sovereigns of small countries, sharing borders with other, have for a long time been concerned to communicate with each other. Especially since my ancestor governed at heavens command, innumerable countries from afar disputed our power, Goryeo rendered thanks for my ceasefire and for restoring their land and people when I ascended the throne. Our relation is feudatory like a father and son and we think you already know this. Japan was allied with Goryeo and sometimes with China since the founding of your country, however and we are afraid that the Kingdom is yet to know this. Hence we dispatched a mission with our letter particularly expressing our wishes, enter into friendly relations with each other from now on. We think all countries belong to one family, how are we in the right, unless we comprehend this. Nobody would wish to resort to arms, Kublai essentially demanded that Japan become a vassal and send tribute under a threat of conflict. A second set of emissaries were sent in 1268, returning empty-handed like the first, after discussing the letters with his inner circle, there was much debate, but the Shikken had his mind made up, he had the emissaries sent back with no answer. The Mongols continued to send demands, some through Korean emissaries and some through Mongol ambassadors on March 7,1269, September 17,1269, September 1271, however, each time, the bearers were not permitted to land in Kyushu. The Imperial Court suggested compromise, but really had little effect in the matter, after acknowledging its importance, the Imperial Court led great prayer services, and much government business was put off to deal with this crisis. The Khan was willing to go to war as early as 1268 after having been rebuffed twice, Kublai Khan founded the Yuan dynasty in 1271

34.
Kublai Khan
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Kublai Khan, born Kublai and also known by the temple name Shizu, was the fifth Khagan of the Mongol Empire, reigning from 1260 to 1294. He also founded the Yuan dynasty in China as a conquest dynasty in 1271, Kublai was the fourth son of Tolui and a grandson of Genghis Khan. He succeeded his older brother Möngke as Khagan in 1260, but had to defeat his younger brother Ariq Böke in the Toluid Civil War lasting until 1264 and this episode marked the beginning of disunity in the empire. Kublais real power was limited to China and Mongolia, though as Khagan he still had influence in the Ilkhanate and, to a lesser degree. In 1271, Kublai established the Yuan dynasty, which ruled over present-day Mongolia, China, Korea, and some adjacent areas, by 1279, the Mongol conquest of the Song dynasty was completed and Kublai became the first non-native emperor to conquer all of China. Kublai Khan was the son of Tolui, and his second son with Sorghaghtani Beki. As his grandfather Genghis Khan advised, Sorghaghtani chose a Buddhist Tangut woman as her sons nurse, on his way home after the Mongol conquest of Khwarezmia, Genghis Khan performed a ceremony on his grandsons Möngke and Kublai after their first hunt in 1224 near the Ili River. Kublai was nine years old and with his eldest brother killed a rabbit and his grandfather smeared fat from killed animals onto Kublais middle finger in accordance with a Mongol tradition. After the Mongol conquest of the Jin dynasty, in 1236, Ögedei gave Hebei to the family of Tolui, Kublai received an estate of his own, which included 10,000 households. Because he was inexperienced, Kublai allowed local officials free rein, corruption amongst his officials and aggressive taxation caused large numbers of Chinese peasants to flee, which led to a decline in tax revenues. Kublai quickly came to his appanage in Hebei and ordered reforms, Sorghaghtani sent new officials to help him and tax laws were revised. Thanks to those efforts, many of the people who fled returned, the most prominent, and arguably most influential, component of Kublai Khans early life was his study and strong attraction to contemporary Chinese culture. Kublai invited Haiyun, the leading Buddhist monk in North China, when he met Haiyun in Karakorum in 1242, Kublai asked him about the philosophy of Buddhism. Haiyun named Kublais son, who was born in 1243, Zhenjin, Haiyun also introduced Kublai to the formerly Daoist and now Buddhist monk, Liu Bingzhong. Liu was a painter, calligrapher, poet, and mathematician, Kublai soon added the Shanxi scholar Zhao Bi to his entourage. Kublai employed people of other nationalities as well, for he was keen to balance local and imperial interests, Mongol, in 1251, Kublais eldest brother Möngke became Khan of the Mongol Empire, and Khwarizmian Mahmud Yalavach and Kublai were sent to China. Kublai received the viceroyalty over North China and moved his ordo to central Inner Mongolia, during his years as viceroy, Kublai managed his territory well, boosted the agricultural output of Henan, and increased social welfare spendings after receiving Xian. These acts received great acclaim from the Chinese warlords and were essential to the building of the Yuan Dynasty, Möngke dismissed Mahmud Yalavach, which met with resistance from Chinese Confucian-trained officials

35.
Mongol Empire
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The Mongol Empire existed during the 13th and 14th centuries and was the largest contiguous land empire in history. The Mongol Empire emerged from the unification of tribes in the Mongol homeland under the leadership of Genghis Khan. The empire grew rapidly under the rule of him and his descendants, the Toluids prevailed after a bloody purge of Ögedeid and Chagataid factions, but disputes continued even among the descendants of Tolui. Kublai successfully took power, but civil war ensued as Kublai sought unsuccessfully to control of the Chagatayid and Ögedeid families. The Battle of Ain Jalut in 1260 marked the point of the Mongol conquests and was the first time a Mongol advance had ever been beaten back in direct combat on the battlefield. In 1304, the three western khanates briefly accepted the suzerainty of the Yuan dynasty, but it was later taken by the Han Chinese Ming dynasty in 1368. What is referred to in English as the Mongol Empire was called the Ikh Mongol Uls, in the 1240s, one of Genghiss descendants, Güyük Khan, wrote a letter to Pope Innocent IV which used the preamble Dalai Khagan of the great Mongolian state. After the succession war between Kublai Khan and his brother Ariq Böke, Ariq limited Kublais power to the part of the empire. Kublai officially issued an edict on December 18,1271 to name the country Great Yuan to establish the Yuan dynasty. Some sources state that the full Mongolian name was Dai Ön Yehe Monggul Ulus, the area around Mongolia, Manchuria, and parts of North China had been controlled by the Liao dynasty since the 10th century. In 1125, the Jin dynasty founded by the Jurchens overthrew the Liao dynasty, in the 1130s the Jin dynasty rulers, known as the Golden Kings, successfully resisted the Khamag Mongol confederation, ruled at the time by Khabul Khan, great-grandfather of Temujin. The Mongolian plateau was occupied mainly by five powerful tribal confederations, Keraites, Khamag Mongol, Naiman, Mergid, khabuls successor was Ambaghai Khan, who was betrayed by the Tatars, handed over to the Jurchen, and executed. The Mongols retaliated by raiding the frontier, resulting in a failed Jurchen counter-attack in 1143, in 1147, the Jin somewhat changed their policy, signing a peace treaty with the Mongols and withdrawing from a score of forts. The Mongols then resumed attacks on the Tatars to avenge the death of their late khan, the Jin and Tatar armies defeated the Mongols in 1161. During the rise of the Mongol Empire in the 13th century and it is thought that as a result, a rapid increase in the number of war horses and other livestock significantly enhanced Mongol military strength. Known during his childhood as Temujin, Genghis Khan was the son of a Mongol chieftain, when he was young he was from one of Yesugis orphaned and deserted families, he rose very rapidly by working with Toghrul Khan of the Kerait. Kurtait was the most powerful Mongol leader during this time and was given the Chinese title Wang which means Prince, Temujin went to war with Wang Khan. After Temujin defeated Wang Khan he gave himself the name Genghis Khan and he then enlarged his Mongol state under himself and his kin

36.
Kamakura shogunate
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The Kamakura shogunate was a Japanese feudal military government that ruled from 1185 to 1333. The heads of the government were the shoguns, the first three were members of the Minamoto clan. The next two were members of the Fujiwara clan, the last six were minor Imperial princes. These years are known as the Kamakura period, the period takes its name from the city where the Minamoto shoguns lived. After 1203, the Hōjō clan held the office of shikken, in effect, the shikken governed in the name of the shoguns. Military affairs were handled under the auspices of the civil government, however, after defeating the Taira clan in the Genpei War, Minamoto no Yoritomo seized super powers from the aristocracy. In 1192, Yoritomo and the Minamoto clan established a government in Kamakura. Eventually, Tokimasa deposed Yoriie, backed up his brother, Minamoto no Sanetomo, as a new shogun. The Minamoto clan remained the titular shoguns, with the Hōjō holding the real power, in 1219, Sanetomo was assassinated by his nephew Kugyō. Since Sanetomo died childless, the line of shoguns from the Minamoto clan ended with him, with the Regency, what was already an unusual situation became even more anomalous when the Hōjō usurped power from those who had usurped it from the Emperor in the first place. The new regime proved to be stable enough to last a total of 135 years,9 shoguns and 16 regents. With Sanetomos death in 1219, his mother Hōjō Masako became the Shogunates real center of power, as long as she lived, regents and shoguns would come and go, while she stayed at the helm. Since the Hōjō family did not have the rank to nominate a shogun from among its members, the problem was solved choosing Kujo Yoritsune, a distant relation of the Minamoto, who would be the fourth shogun and figurehead, while Hōjō Yoshitoki would take care of day-to-day business. However powerless, future shoguns would always be chosen from either Fujiwara or imperial lineage to keep the bloodline pure and this succession proceeded for more than a century. In 1221 Emperor Go-Toba tried to power in what would be called the Jōkyū War. The power of the Hōjō remained unchallenged until 1324, when Emperor Go-Daigo orchestrated a plot to overthrow them, the Mongols under Kublai Khan attempted sea-borne invasions in 1274 and 1281. The shogunate had rejected Kublais demands to submit with contempt, the Mongols returned in 1281 with a force of some 50,000 Mongol-Korean-Chinese along with some 100,000 conscripts from the defeated Song empire in south China. This force embarked and fought the Japanese for some seven weeks at several locations in Kyushu, but the defenders held, and the Mongols made no strategic headway

37.
Mongolia
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Mongolia /mɒŋˈɡoʊliə/ is a landlocked unitary sovereign state in East Asia. Its area is equivalent with the historical territory of Outer Mongolia. It is sandwiched between China to the south and Russia to the north, while it does not share a border with Kazakhstan, Mongolia is separated from it by only 36.76 kilometers. At 1,564,116 square kilometers, Mongolia is the 18th largest and it is also the worlds second-largest landlocked country behind Kazakhstan and the largest landlocked country that does not border a closed sea. The country contains very little land, as much of its area is covered by grassy steppe, with mountains to the north and west. Ulaanbaatar, the capital and largest city, is home to about 45% of the countrys population, approximately 30% of the population is nomadic or semi-nomadic, horse culture is still integral. The majority of its population are Buddhists, the non-religious population is the second largest group. Islam is the dominant religion among ethnic Kazakhs, the majority of the states citizens are of Mongol ethnicity, although Kazakhs, Tuvans, and other minorities also live in the country, especially in the west. Mongolia joined the World Trade Organization in 1997 and seeks to expand its participation in regional economic, the area of what is now Mongolia has been ruled by various nomadic empires, including the Xiongnu, the Xianbei, the Rouran, the Turkic Khaganate, and others. In 1206, Genghis Khan founded the Mongol Empire, which became the largest contiguous empire in history. His grandson Kublai Khan conquered China to establish the Yuan dynasty, after the collapse of the Yuan, the Mongols retreated to Mongolia and resumed their earlier pattern of factional conflict, except during the era of Dayan Khan and Tumen Zasagt Khan. In the 16th century, Tibetan Buddhism began to spread in Mongolia, being led by the Manchu-founded Qing dynasty. By the early 1900s, almost one-third of the male population were Buddhist monks. After the collapse of the Qing dynasty in 1911, Mongolia declared independence from the Qing dynasty, shortly thereafter, the country came under the control of the Soviet Union, which had aided its independence from China. In 1924, the Mongolian Peoples Republic was declared as a Soviet satellite state, after the anti-Communist revolutions of 1989, Mongolia conducted its own peaceful democratic revolution in early 1990. This led to a multi-party system, a new constitution of 1992, homo erectus inhabited Mongolia from 850,000 years ago. Modern humans reached Mongolia approximately 40,000 years ago during the Upper Paleolithic, the Khoit Tsenkher Cave in Khovd Province shows lively pink, brown, and red ochre paintings of mammoths, lynx, bactrian camels, and ostriches, earning it the nickname the Lascaux of Mongolia. The venus figurines of Malta testify to the level of Upper Paleolithic art in northern Mongolia, the wheeled vehicles found in the burials of the Afanasevans have been dated to before 2200 BC

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Goryeo
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Goryeo, also spelled as Koryŏ, was a Korean dynasty established in 918 by King Taejo. This kingdom later gave name to the modern exonym Korea and it united the Later Three Kingdoms in 936 and ruled most of the Korean Peninsula until it was removed by the founder of the Joseon in 1392. Goryeo expanded Koreas borders to present-day Wonsan in the northeast, the Yalu River, two of this periods most notable products are celadon pottery and the Tripitaka Koreana—the Buddhist canon carved onto more than 80,000 woodblocks and stored at Haeinsa. The people of Goryeo also created the first metal type that was capable of printing actual books, in 1234, the oldest surviving metal movable type book. A son of a lord, Wang Geon, joined Taebong as a general. Taebong fell when Wang Geon revolted and killed Gung Ye in 918, Silla was overpowered by Goryeo and Later Baekje and surrendered to Goryeo in 935. By the late 13th century, after nearly 30 years of warfare with the Mongols of the Yuan dynasty, Goryeo lost much of its power, the name Goryeo is derived from Goguryeo of the Three Kingdoms of Korea, which the Goryeo state regarded as its predecessor. Goguryeo changed its name to Goryeo during the reign of Jangsu in the 5th century, the English name Korea derives from Goryeo. Silla, which had accomplished an incomplete unification of the Three Kingdoms of Korea in 668, weakened, the country entered a period of civil war and rebellion, led by Gung Ye, Gi Hwon, Yang Gil, and Gyeon Hwon. Gung Ye established the state of Later Goguryeo, renamed Taebong, together with the declining Later Silla, they are known as the Later Three Kingdoms. Wang Geon, who became the Taejo of Goryeo, joined Later Goguryeo as a general but later overthrew Gung Ye. Goryeo regarded itself as the successor of Goguryeo, Wang Geon, the founder of Goryeo, was a descendant of Goguryeo, and traced his ancestry to a noble Goguryeo clan. For three years after, Later Baekje dominated the Later Three Kingdoms, but after a defeat at Andong in 930, the Later Three Kingdoms era ended when Goryeo annexed Silla in 935 and defeated Later Baekje in 936. King Taejo moved the capital to his hometown of Kaesǒng, Taejo married a daughter of the Silla royal family and allowed most of their nobility to keep their lands. Even though he ruled the nation for only seven years before his son took the throne upon his death. The terminology used in the court of Goryeo was that of an empire, the capital, Gaegyeong was called Hwangdo Imperial Capital and the palace was referred to as Imperial Palace. The nation also utilized a system of multiple capitals, Gaegyeong as the main capital, the mere use of this system and the nomenclature or use of the character 京 implied that Goryeo functioned internally as an empire. Other terms, such as Your Imperial Majesty, Empress Imperial Crown Prince, Empress Dowager, however, Goryeo, when enshrining its rulers, did not use the title Emperor

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Korean Peninsula
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The Korean Peninsula is a peninsula in East Asia. Until the end of World War II, Korea was a political entity whose territory roughly coincided with the Korean Peninsula. The northern boundaries for the Korean Peninsula are commonly taken to coincide with political borders between North Korea and its northern neighbors, China and Russia. These borders are formed naturally by the rivers Yalu/Amnok and Tumen/Tuman/Duman, taking this definition, the Korean Peninsula has an area of 220,847 km2. The peninsulas names in Korean, Chinese and Japanese all have the origin, that being Joseon. In North Koreas Chosonmal, the peninsula is called Chosŏn Pando, while in China, in Japan, it is either Chōsenhantō or Kanhantō. Meanwhile, in South Korea, it is called Hanbando, referring to the Samhan and they both use Korea as part of their official English names, which is a name that comes from the Goryeo dynasty. Korea Geography of Korea Geography of North Korea Geography of South Korea List of Korea-related topics KOIS, location of the Korean Peninsula — The official Korean Tourism guide website

40.
Samurai
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Samurai were the military nobility and officer caste of medieval and early-modern Japan. In Japanese, they are referred to as bushi or buke. In both countries the terms were nominalized to mean those who serve in close attendance to the nobility, the pronunciation in Japanese changing to saburai. According to Wilson, a reference to the word samurai appears in the Kokin Wakashū. By the end of the 12th century, samurai became almost entirely synonymous with bushi, the samurai were usually associated with a clan and their lord, and were trained as officers in military tactics and grand strategy. While the samurai numbered less than 10% of then Japans population, following the Battle of Hakusukinoe against Tang China and Silla in 663 AD, which led to a retreat from Korean affairs, Japan underwent widespread reform. One of the most important was that of the Taika Reform and this edict allowed the Japanese aristocracy to adopt the Tang dynasty political structure, bureaucracy, culture, religion, and philosophy. As part of the Taihō Code of 702 AD, and the later Yōrō Code, the population was required to regularly for census. With an understanding of how the population was distributed, Emperor Monmu introduced a law whereby 1 in 3–4 adult males were drafted into the national military and these soldiers were required to supply their own weapons, and in-return were exempted from duties and taxes. This was one of the first attempts by the Imperial government to form an organized army modeled after the Chinese system and it was called Gundan-Sei by later historians and is believed to have been short-lived. The Taihō Code classified most of the Imperial bureaucrats into 12 ranks and those of 6th rank and below were referred to as samurai and dealt with day-to-day affairs. Although these samurai were civilian public servants, the word is believed to have derived from this term. Military men, however, would not be referred to as samurai for many more centuries, Emperor Kanmu introduced the title of seii-taishōgun, or Shogun, and began to rely on the powerful regional clans to conquer the Emishi. Skilled in mounted combat and archery, these clan warriors became the Emperors preferred tool for putting down rebellions, though this is the first known use of the Shogun title, it was a temporary title, and was not imbued with political power until the 13th century. At this time, the Imperial Court officials considered them to be merely a military section under the control of the Imperial Court, ultimately, Emperor Kanmu disbanded his army. From this time, the Emperors power gradually declined, while the Emperor was still the ruler, powerful clans around Kyoto assumed positions as ministers, and their relatives bought positions as magistrates. To amass wealth and repay their debts, magistrates often imposed heavy taxes, through protective agreements and political marriages, they accumulated, or gathered, political power, eventually surpassing the traditional aristocracy. Some clans were formed by farmers who had taken up arms to protect themselves from the Imperial magistrates sent to govern their lands

Portrait of Kublai Khan drawn shortly after his death on February 18, 1294. The painting depicts Kublai prior to the onset of obesity from heavy eating and drinking. Kublai's white robes reflect his desired symbolic role as a religious Mongol shaman. Now Located in the National Palace Museum, Taipei, Taiwan; colors and ink on silk, 59.4 by 47 cm.